


Moving on

by Orbitingrey



Category: Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Anti-karedevil, F/M, Pregnant!Karen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 09:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13028466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orbitingrey/pseuds/Orbitingrey
Summary: Matt comes back and Karen's somebody else





	Moving on

Karen is jolted awake by the very man whose funeral she spoke at six months earlier. Same man she and Foggy poured out a glass of liquor for on to the curb outside of Josie’s. Same man she loved and lost, over and over.   
“Matt.” It’s not a question. It’s him. He’s dropped through her window, God knows how he got it open, and is standing at the foot of her bed. She wants to punch him and yell at him and scream at him.   
He died.   
She grieved.  
Everybody did. Matt was revered in Hell’s Kitchen solely for his short time as a lawyer there. Daredevil wasn’t grieved, but certainly missed. It was unclear to those of Hell’s Kitchen what had happened. No body was found. There would be no funeral for the devil.   
Karen is ready to have a hysteric breakdown. She sits up, hyperventilating. She doesn’t know how to treat a ghost.   
Matt grabs her hand before he says anything. Karen tries to pull back. He kneels.  
“Karen” He gasps in that gravelly voice of his, the one that makes her feel like she’s a teenager out with a man her parents wouldn’t have approved of, except her parents would have loved a columbia lawyer who worked for “the people”. She tries to keep her resolve. She will not fall into some teenage state just because a man has come back from the dead for her. It’s not the first time this has happened. From what she’s heard, he died in the arms of the woman he left Karen for.   
“The heartbeat. I can hear the heartbeat.” He’s breathlessly laughing for a moment, feeling the joy that accompanies a baby. She’d hoped her pajamas had hid the bump, but apparently, at five months, her unborn daughter has a strong enough heartbeat for Matt to hear. Then his face falls and his voice tightens. “Karen. Karen, what have you gotten yourself into?”  
It sparks a fresh rage in her. Who does he think he is? He leaves her, dies, then shows up the criticize her for being a capable adult with a baby on the way? She’s not sixteen. She has a job, a good one. She’s eased up on the crime section for now, and is taking a shot at politics. It’s not what she’d wanted, but while she’s responsible for more than just her life, she’s willing to ease up for now, especially since it’s still meaningful. Ellison has threatened to put her in the gardening section before.   
Frank never would have spoken to her like that. Like he was disappointed in her for being a living human being. Matt wants Karen to be a work of art, hung up on a wall, unchanging. He didn’t want the surprises of a person. Frank takes her as she is, ambitious and skeletons and all.   
She had been scared out of her mind to tell Frank with all the guilt he’s had. A man afraid to find happiness again. Karen would never try to erase Maria. She knows how much Maria meant to Frank and their kids. But Frank still has half a life to live.   
When she told him, she said he didn’t have to stay. If this hurt too much, she wouldn’t force him to stay by her side. She also told him that this was his chance to be a father again. He loved his family fiercely, and if he still had love to give, this baby needed it. He cried. Frank’s cried in front of Karen before, but never out of happiness. Karen’s always been so special to him, so smart and quick and brave, and now there’s going to be another of her on this earth. He’d hoped it’d get everything from her. The fire under her feet and the ocean in her eyes. He falls more in love with her everyday. He plays old songs when he cooks and dances with her when she gets home from work. He’s the lightest Frank he’s been in a long time. A month after she told him, she found herself with a rectangular ruby on her left hand. Her office adores him. As dedicated as she is to revealing the truth to the public, she keeps her private life out of the office. The ring and the man with flowers are starting to peel away her layers and bring her out of her crime obsessed state, into the world of real people. They’re good for each other that way.  
But God, Matt could never understand that. Matt sees a murderer and a criminal. Matt sees a threat.   
Karen never felt safer than when Frank Castle had a gun to her head. She knew he was doing everything in his power to save her.   
She knows he’s read every article she’s written. She knows he checked for her roses in the window everyday. She knows he’s in the living room, reading. She knew she should have gotten rid of all those embarrassing young adult romance books, but she’s a sucker for happy endings. Frank teased her when he found them on her shelves, but she’s seen him open one a few times.  
She knows Frank is listening. She knows Frank knows who Matt really is, otherwise Matt would be dead on her floor right now. She appreciates the semi-privacy. She couldn’t even begin to explain Frank to Matt.   
Matt certainly picked up on Frank’s heartbeat. “Is that him? Karen I-”  
She reaches out, grabbing at Matt’s hands and standing up. He tenses when he feels her wedding band. “Enough, Matt! I’m not yours! I’m not anyone’s!” He starts to insist she’ll need his help, his protection. She hold back sobs as she tells him this is it. He was dead and she moved on and she’s happy.  
She’s got everything she needs. A partner. Something Matt never was. She has the truth now, something Matt never gave her.  
He scowls and she knows this won’t be the last she sees of him. He’ll try to keep his distance but she knows he’ll find Foggy soon enough and need updates on her. It’s not ideal but at least he’s leaving through her window with the right idea in his head. The idea that she doesn’t need or want him.  
Karen falls back to the bed, bleary eyed, while Frank comes in and slips his arms around her. He gets it. He knows she’s still healing. They both are. She falls back asleep in the arms of a man she truly loves.


End file.
